Senator Milton R. Young Collection on display

Fargo, ND -- The "Senator Milton R. Young Collection" including photographs, certificates, plaques, and artifacts will be on exhibit at the Lower Level Gallery of the NDSU Library from June 25 to October, 8, 2000. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

The exhibit was prepared by the Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Library, where the Senator Milton R. Young Collection is housed.

Upon his retirement in 1981, Senator Young presented to North Dakota State University his vast collection to be displayed and made accessible to the people of North Dakota.

After 35 years in the United States Senate representing the people of North Dakota, Milton R. Young retired in January 1981. This ended a political career which first began with his election as a township supervisor in 1924. Since then he continuously held an elective office without ever being defeated for re-election.

Milton R. Young was born at Berlin, North Dakota in 1897 and graduated from LaMoure High School. He later attended North Dakota State University and Graceland College. Mr. Young thereupon went to his father's farm which he operated until 1945. He married Malinda Benson in 1919 with whom he reared three sons. She died in 1969. He later married Patricia Byrne of Bowman, North Dakota. Senator Young died at his retirement home in Sun City, Arizona on May 31, 1983 and was buried at Berlin, North Dakota.

He was active in community affairs, serving on the school, township, and county AAA boards.

The depression and drought of the late 1920s and 1930s saw an increased interest in politics by Milt Young which led to his election to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1932 and to the Senate in 1934. Mr. Young was also one of the key persons in developing the Republican Organizing Committee (ROC) in North Dakota during the 1940s. With the death of John Moses in 1945, Governor Fred. G. Aandahl appointed Milton Young to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat. There he represented the people of North Dakota the remainder of his career, becoming one of the longest serving members of the Senate in its history. His major committee assignments were the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committees and the Appropriations Committee of which he was the ranking Republican member.

Throughout his long political career Senator Young was honored by many individuals and organizations with the presentation of photographs, certificates, plaques, and artifacts. This display features only a small portion of a unique and interesting collection. Through this display, the viewer can gain an insight into Senator Young's career and interests.

For more information about the display, contact John E. Bye, NDSU Library (701-231-8877 or John.Bye@ndsu.edu).

United States Senator Milton R. Young	Vice President Harry Truman swears in North Dakota's United States Senator Milton R. Young. Photograph was taken in 1945 when Milton Young first came to the U.S. Senate. Vice President Truman later became Presidents of the United States only weeks later at the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.